Video- Senator Levin in Goldman Hearing: The Shitty Tape

Hysterical.

Xe-ing the light: Carl Levin asks for DoJ investigation into Blackwater contract

By GottaLaff

Carl Levin is Xe-ing the light:

The Senate’s top Democrat on military matters is pressing the Department of Justice to investigate whether the company formerly known as Blackwater and Raytheon Co. made false or misleading statements when bidding for an Army contract in Afghanistan.

A Senate Armed Services Committee investigation, spurred by chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), recently found that Xe Services’ (formerly Blackwater) contractors had no regard for policies and rules in Afghanistan. The panel found multiple irresponsible acts by the contractors and troubling gaps in government oversight.

The State Department needs to cut them off completely. They are currently contracted to be in Afghanistan.

Then DoJ has to nail Blackwater to the wall. Finally.

All the details are here.

Video- Face The Nation: Levin, Skelton and Zinni on Afghan War

Video- Complete Face The Nation, 08.09.09

Hey, I always miss it so I thought maybe others did also and such.

National Security Advisor Jim Jones on relations between the U.S and North Korea and. increasing U.S. forces in Afghanistan; Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) discuss reports that U.S. commanders want more troops in Afghanistan; Plus, Bob Schieffer gives 'the plane truth.'

VIDEO: Teabaggers Scream Pledge Of Allegiance At Sen. Carl Levin

By GottaLaff

The Tea Tantrumers caught sight of Carl Levin, far, far away, and felt the need to pledge allegiance to the American flag:



If I were to catch sight of certain Rushpublics far, far away, I would be thrilled that they are far, far away and ignore them.

When I catch sight of of certain Rushpublics on the Tee Vee Machine, I scream obscenities or turn the channel.

When I catch sight of Democrats, I'll let you know. I've never seen any of the well-known ones in person.

When I catch sight of the American flag, I recite the Pledge of Allegiance when it is appropriate to do so.

Cheney moves goalposts on torture memos

Greg found the nugget, and as he points out, what Cheney says now is exactly what Levin and Feingold have been saying all along.

The key moment came when his interviewer said: “You want some documents declassified having to do with waterboarding.” Cheney replied:

“Yes, but the way I would describe them is they have to do with the detainee program, the interrogation program. It’s not just waterboarding. It’s the interrogation program that we used for high-value detainees. There were two reports done that summarize what we learned from that program, and I think they provide a balanced view.”

Bear with me here, because this is crucial. Cheney is carefully saying that the documents summarize what we learned from the overall interrogation program. Torture, of course, was only a component of that program. So he’s clearly saying that the docs summarize what was learned from a program that included non-torture techniques, too.

Consider the goalposts moved.

Carl Levin: Cheney's CIA document claims a lie

By GottaLaff

Levin to the Nation of Dick: You are a big fat sucky irrelevant liar:

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a Washington audience this week that claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that classified CIA memos showed that enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked were lies.

Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques — now deemed torture by the Obama administration — "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims."

The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."

"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added.

All that's missing is a fervent wish to prosecute the big fat sucky irrelevant liar. Someone please make that wish come true. Please? Pretty please? With sugary declassified documents on top?

Carl Levin Is Open to ‘Guantánamo North’ in Michigan

We could be in the process of allocating money to build new prisons and generating new jobs if we had the proper leadership.

Carl Levin , chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that construction and staffing at a new maximum-security prison in Michigan could help his cash-starved state.

“If the governor and the local officials are open to it, that’s something that should be considered,” said Levin, making the point that each state should make its own determination.

Former Michigan Gov. John Engler, a Republican, suggested this month that creating a “Guantánamo North” in the Upper Peninsula could net the state upward of $1 billion per year, according to reports.

(snip)

Even Levin’s Republican counterpart on the committee, John McCain of Arizona, said he was open to the possibility of moving Guantánamo detainees to secure facilities in the United States, saying, “It depends on the circumstances.”
But McCain said the issue has been muddied by the public perception that the administration would release dangerous prisoners to walk the streets in U.S. neighborhoods. “Whether that’s accurate or inaccurate, that’s the impression that the American people have,” McCain said.

VIDEO: Carl Levin rips Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Bush on torture

By GottaLaff

I'm absolutely baffled by the number of punditiots on the Tee Vee Machine today who adopted the "look forward, not back" line. The law was broken. People were tortured. Should rape victims look forward? Why dwell on yesterday?

Tomorrow's a brand new day! The sun'll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be su-u-u-un:

Other liberal Democratic lawmakers appearing on the Sunday television news shows joined Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan in pressuring the Obama administration to pursue investigations into the interrogation policies. But they stopped short of demanding charges against the Bush-era lawyers and other officials who devised the policies that critics have denounced as torture.

Today there was this from an opinion piece by an L.A. Times reporter and analyst:

It turned out that Abu Zubaydah didn't know as much as the CIA thought he did -- or at least not that he spilled. In hindsight, subjecting him to physical abuse was wrong. But was it justifiable at the time? Not such an easy call. [...]

Of course, the question is not whether abusive interrogations produced any useful information. It's whether the abuse produced information that could not have been learned any other way, and whether the value of the information outweighed the damage to its victims: the detainees and the U.S. legal system.

No, the question is: Why is there any question about this? Torture is illegal. The outcome is irrelevant, and it is not justifiable. Period.

VIDEO-- Levin: I’ve Suggested To Eric Holder That He Should Appoint An Independent Investigator On Torture

By GottaLaff

Drumbeat:

At the Progressive Media Summit on Capitol Hill yesterday, Marcy Wheeler asked Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, about congressional plans to continue investigating torture. “There needs to be, I believe, an accounting of torture in this country,” replied Levin. He then said that he had suggested to Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder that he appoint “an outside person who’s got real credibility” to continue to investigate:

LEVIN: We’re going to try to complete this investigation, at least on the DoD side, Ok. But on the intelligence, the CIA side, that’s going to be up to the Intelligence Committe. I know I suggested to Eric Holder, who will be the next Attorney General despite the delay that took place today, that he select some people or hire an outside person whose got real credibility, perhaps a retired federal judge, to take all the available information, and there’s reams of it.

Rachel Maddow Show: Carl Levin on Torture Prosecutions

Face The Nation- Auto Industry Bailout Battle

Bob Schieffer spoke to Sen. Carl Levin, Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. Bob Corker about whether or not the White House should take action to bailout the American Auto Industry.

I'm with Oliver, Corker makes me crazy in many way.

Senior officials authorized ‘aggressive’ interrogation

By GottaLaff

From the Department of What Else Is New:

Senior U.S. officials authorized the use of aggressive interrogation techniques resulting in the abuse of military detainees in U.S. custody, according to a report released by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.

The authorization was not only the cause of aggressive interrogation techniques, but also conveyed the message that it was OK to mistreat and degrade detainees in U.S. custody, according to the report released by panel Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.). [...]

SERE training is designed to teach soldiers how to resist interrogation by enemies who refuse to follow the Geneva Conventions and international law. During SERE training, U.S. troops are exposed to harsh techniques such as stress positions, forced nudity, use of fear, sleep deprivation and, until recently, the waterboard, according to a release issued by the committee. The SERE techniques were never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody.

The committee’s investigation found that senior officials in the U.S. government decided to use some of these harsh techniques against detainees based on flawed interpretations of U.S. and international law, according to the release. [...]

Levin also said that the abuses that took place at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and earlier at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are not the actions of just a “few bad apples.”

“Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low-ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable,” Levin said. “The message from top officials was clear: It was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees.”

McCain said, “The committee’s report details the inexcusable link between abusive interrogation techniques used by our enemies who ignored the Geneva Conventions and interrogation policy for detainees in U.S. custody. These policies are wrong and must never be repeated.”

Oh really, Gramm-pa? Really? February 2008:

Last week, the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill — which contained a provision banning waterboarding — to the floor for a vote. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an outspoken waterboarding critic, voted against the bill.

Liveblog: Delegate Debate, continued

By GottaLaff

Once again, please forgive the typos and shorthand:

MSNBC:

Wexler: The superdelegate question for me was one of fairness. We have to abide by the rules of this bylaws committee. We will accept this decision and move forward. ... The Clinton campaign looks to be acting in a very responsible way toward unity.

Todd: What about Jewish voters?

Wexler: Clinton has their support, but so does Obama v. McCain in the general. We'll beat him badly on Social Security, and Obama has an A+ record on Israel, he's a staunch advocate for their security.

Rachel Maddow: Fla and Michigan had rogue contests. Michigan was an uncontested election and against the committee rules, but also the names of the 2 candidates weren't available to be voted upon. It's a reach to count it...

Senator Carl Levin, of Michigan, up.

Levin: Michigan has achieved unity, we're asking you to preserve it. (applause) Seat all the delegates with full voting rights... there's an overwhelming agreement for this. I believe both candidates support this. That's been missing, unity between our candidates... The Michigan Democratic party supports that position. Disagreement: The Party has reached a compromise on allocation. It's imperfect... no scientific way to reach that conclusion, but a fair way, a reasonable way, per Mark Brewer. Obama wants to divide the votes 64-64 because the primary was flawed. Clinton's rep will say 73-55, representing the vote because her name was on the ballot and assuming that the uncommitted should go to Obama, even though some would have gone to Edwards. We know it was a flawed primary. We couldn't get a re-vote. If you don't seat them in full, you'll interject an element of disunity where we have unity. If you can come up with a better allocation than 69-59, so be it. If there's a 4th way to do this, that'll be in your hands. We've given you the best we can do, united the Michigan Democratic Party with this formula (69-59).

No state has the right to go first before Michigan. So we fought to open up the process. We'll take our case to the convention, we said in 2004. Terry McAuliffe said don't do that. We'll appoint a commission. They had hearings for a year. I was a member of that commission. We came up with a recommendation for a minor change, to open up the system so other states besides Iowa and New Hampshire, could go early. That there be an additional first tier, one or 2, first tier caucuses between Iowa and New Hampshire. N.H. hated it, and voted No. We don't believe we're a party of privilege, no state should have that. So insert 1 or 2 caucuses. Michigan accepted that. We praised it. ... We accepted that we weren't one of the 4 pre-window states provided N.H. accepted. They didn't. We couldn't get an answer from the commission to whether or not a state could go early. The commission's findings were that serious concerns that Iowa and N.H. weren't reflective of the electorate. So, N.H. would go third. N.H. said no, he'd jump forward to #2, before Nevada. So, back at square one. After this committee said, "go third"?? We ask YOU, where's the integrity of that? Enforce the new rule. If you won't, then give Michigan a waiver, too. You gave them a waiver, but denied us a waiver. So, we had to take that privilege on again.

It's complicated. We said we'd accept the rule if everyone else did, but the committee let that one state off the hook. We wouldn't take that any more... The sequence was the key... the fight wasn't the 4 states in the window, it was the sequence within the pre-window. Don't punish us for that. We only differ on the proportionment.